THE SCHOONER ‘‘ EBBA”’ 63.

Falcon making its preparations, but several steam launches
in reserve on the waters of Pamlico Sound were getting
ready to scour the sea, with instructions to search down to
the depths of the hold, merchantmen, pleasure-boats,
‘fishing craft—including those that were at anchor as well
as those setting out to sea.

And all the time the schooner Edda was getting ready to
heave her anchor. Upon the whole, it did not seem that the
Count experienced the least anxiety about the measures
taken by the administration, or the contingencies which
would arise if Thomas Roch and his keeper were found on
board.

About nine o’clock the last preliminaries were com-
pleted, and a few minutes later the £dda turned her head
to the east so as to double the left bank of the Neuse.

About fifteen miles from Newburn the river bends
suddenly, and winds towards the north-west, growing
wider as it advances. After having passed Croatan and
Havelock, the #4éa reached the bend, and veered towards
the north, close to the wind, along the left bank. It was
eleven o’clock, when, favoured by the breeze and without
having met either cruiser or steam-launch, she rounded
the point of the island of Sivan, beyond which Pamlico
Sound extended.

This vast expanse of water measures one hundred kilo-
meters from Sivan Island to Roadoke Island. On the
ocean side stretches a long line of narrow islands like a
natural breakwater, lying north and south from Cape
Lookout to Cape Hatteras, and on to Cape Henry, on a